Best Silver Lining

For the most part, this year's OZZfest provided nothing but misery -- horrendous soundalike bands, frequent downpours paired with chilly winds, groan-inducing T-shirt slogans -- but there was one bright spot, one set that was so brilliantly staged that for thirty minutes it was possible to forget the day's earlier horrors. Marilyn Manson offered more spectacle than any group since Iron Maiden: He walked on skyscraper-sized stilts, performed inside an enormous box and posed in front of a cross made of firearms. And the songs, largely taken from his hardest-hitting discs Antichrist Superstar and last year's Holy Wood, were good enough to impress without the fanfare. Manson can be silly and derivative at times, but on this night he was all substance, salvaging an event that was in dire need of a savior.